DESCRIPTION: This course will examine selected writings from Chesterton and
Lewis as well as portions of their respective biographies. This course will
specifically examine what a theology of joy looks like through the lens of the
twentieth century's two most thoughtful exponents of Christian joy: G.K.
Chesterton and C.S. Lewis.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students taking this course will learn basic literary
hermeneutical approaches for reading theology and literature, with an eye
toward incorporating the ideas presented in class into their own practice of
ministry and scholarship. Designed with an aim to helping ministers recover a
sense of joy in their approaches to ministry, we will discuss how joy relates
to both the task of apologetics and the question of aesthetics. The skills
developed in this class will be relevant to other interdisciplinary studies and
will aid the pastor, teacher, preacher, artist, and caregiver in developing (or
recovering) a theology of joy.
RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY: Joy is an essential quality of the Christian life. As
such, it must be cultivated in any healthy approach to ministry, teaching, and
care-giving. As students read and respond to the texts and lectures, they will
develop not only a deeper appreciation for the function and place of joy in
their own lives of faith, but they will also develop a more informed and
dynamic approach to incorporating joy into their various ministries. The fact
that the center of joy for Chesterton and Lewis lay in the person and work of
Jesus Christ will also give students a clearer sense of how their approaches to
ministry must firmly and finally be a witness to Christ in the world.
COURSE FORMAT: Meeting daily for two weeks for four-hour session of lecture,
reading, and discussion.
REQUIRED READING: (please buy the specified edition so that we are all
literally on the same page)